Hopsego

Celebrate Otsego County's king crop at our new family-friendly, hop-centric event––Hopsego! The event brings together traditional methods paired with contemporary craft. From the growing of hops to the making of food, beer, and other products, families will get an all-encompassing experience and learn how the hop flower and vine rooted our region, formed family traditions and brought us into the resurgence of hop growing and craft brewing today. Find music, food, family-friendly activities, beer tastings, and more!

-Make and Do!-

· Families can partake in activities such as making handcrafted items together, inspired by hop flowers and vines - all to be taken home as mementos of the day.

· Have conversations with specialists in the field about the history of hops in our region. Lend a hand by helping us set and pull hop poles and pick the hops from the vines, all while bringing the hop yard to life.

-Play Like a Kid!-

· Kids and families can earn hop tickets by doing specific hop-related tasks all day long! "Hop to It" and make your own task-log booklet at the arts & crafts tent, get it stamped for each task completed throughout the day, collect your earned tickets and get a special prize for your hard work!!

· Traditional and contemporary games such as croquet, giant Jenga, and Cornhole will bring family members and friends together in our family-centered arts and crafts activity area.

· Take a spin on the Empire State Carousel, the museum you can ride on!

-Four-Legged Friends & Dirt!-

· Those looking to get their hands dirty, can stay “down on the farm” and do some more work in our hop yard or hop barn. Hang around a while and see animals graze while talking to our expert staff and volunteers about what it was like to raise livestock.

-Making and Crafting the Brew! Taste a Treat!-

· Some folks may not know that hops were used to flavor and preserve beer. Beer, popular at a time when water was mostly unsafe to drink, became a household daily drink. Did it really help settle a nomadic culture? Let’s find out, try a couple brews, and nosh on some tasty nibbles, while we’re at it.

· In Bump Tavern, guests (ages 21+) can sample beer (2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.) from regional New York State craft breweries. Get your Hopsego Tasting glass at Todd’s General Store! Only $5 a glass! (Visitors must be 21 years or older with a valid government-issued ID to sample alcoholic beverages.)

· Adults and children will enjoy soda pop tastings in Bump Tavern from 11:00-1:00 p.m.!

-Make the Vessels and Drink the Drink!-

· Contemporary ceramic vessels for storing and drinking brewed and fermented beverages will be thrown on a modern-day potter’s wheel, and similar items will be available for purchase.

-And Then, There Was Food!-

· Hungry? Get it here! LARRY’S CUSTOM MEATS from Hartwick, NY will be making a specialty bratwurst only available at Hopsego for a limited time, or grab a German-style frankfurter instead! Pick-up a BBQ’ed burger or sandwich and chips, a soft drink or tea, and cookies at our own Crossroads Café! Want ice cream? We may have some of that, too!

-Chat, Laugh and Stay Awhile!-

· Form a sense of community on the Bump Tavern Green or in a biergarten-style atmosphere while listening to live music by 18-year-old protégé Kayla Rae. Stomp your feet and dance to the jams of the Spectacular Average Boys and listen to NYS singer-songwriter, Marc Delgado as he draws you into the fold with his voice, humor, and storytelling. See a full performance schedule below.

· It is human nature to want to be social, to want to be with others, to want to converse, to laugh, to joke, to tell stories and to hear music, to dance. Join us on the Bump Tavern Green and find your community, or a new community here at The Farmers’ Museum!

-See “the Stuff!”-

· Photographic images, documents and the actual tools used to do the work will be on view in the Main Barn. During "What is it? Hop Tool Display and Conversation" (11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. and 2:00-4:00 p.m.), ask questions of our Collections Specialist and learn all about the actual objects that were used to get the work done.

-Learn, Observe, Discuss!-

· Our blacksmith, printer, pharmacist, and weaver will demonstrate how hops were incorporated into daily life, from making reproduction tools used in the hop fields, to creating ointments and cures using hop flowers, to printing broadsides and hop tickets. Food items using traditional recipes incorporating hops will be cooked and baked.

· What are hop pellets? How do brewers use them and
how are today's hops harvested and processed? Join Ian Porto of Northern Eagle Hop Pelletizing for a conversation in the Hop House!

· Dietrich Gehring and Laura Ten Eyck, authors of "Hop Grower's Handbook: The Essential Guide for Sustainable, Small Scall Production for Home and Market," will be on the Carousel Green for a book signing.

-Check It Out!-

· In the Main Barn, watch historical short films of hop pickers and view a pop-up hop exhibion.

-The Cloth That Bound! The Wood That Stored!-

· A trained tailor will create patterns for clothing and sew them using nineteenth-century methods as visitors talk and chat with him about making your own clothing in the 19th-20th centuries. A Cooper using 19th-century methods will make a hand-hewn cask used to ferment and store beer in years gone by.

-Take Something Home to Remember Your Day!-

· Visit The Farmers' Museum Store and Todd’s General Store for hop-related items, all day long!

· Get your Hopsego Tasting glass at Todd’s General Store! Only $5 a glass!

Otsego County was the largest hop growing area in the United States during the early twentieth century. The rich tradition of the hop industry and agriculture supported local families and migrant workers and resulted in ancillary businesses related to the niche trade. Hopsego, a new event at The Farmers’ Museum for the summer of 2017 will celebrate the history and tradition of hops growing, harvesting, and related industries in Otsego and surrounding counties from the 1800s to today. Tell us what you think of the event and you could win four passes to Harvest Festival on September 16 and 17, Tractor Festival on October 7 and 8, or Candlelight Evening on December 9!
What’s more? Visit the exhibition Hop City Pickers! open Monday – Friday, 10-5 at the Research Library!